Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Broseph's Bits And The Tuesday Gospel

The gospel is tired from the long night of watching college basketball. We're just going to give you the winners you so desperately crave. Two road teams...oh boy.

Ball State +2 -- The MAC race involves both Ball State and Miami-Ohio. Those two teams will take the court together in Miami-Ohio on Tuesday night. The RedHawks are 9-12, 4-3 in the MAC. They will be without the services of Antonio Ballard who is the 2nd leading scorer and rebounder after he shattered his wrist against Central Michigan. Starting point guard Quinten Rollins hurt his wrist in practice and he's out indefinitely. The team's leading scorer Julian Mavunga had a foot injury, but returned to action. The team has lost two of their last three including last time out at home against Western Michigan. The Cardinals are struggling as of late, but are still 13-7, 5-2 in the MAC. They play outstanding defense allowing only 60.9 points per game which is good for 24th in the country. They rely on Jarrod Jones (15.4 ppg), Jauwan Scaife (11 ppg) and Randy Davis (10.3 ppg). Ball State lost three straight home games so a trip away from home could help the team out. Before their losing streak, the Cardinals had won seven straight. They have covered in six of their seven lined games against teams with a losing record.

Creighton -3.5 -- The Creighton Blue Jays hope a trip to Bradley can help them stop the bleeding. They have lost four of their last six contests. Three of them were by five points or less all on the road. This is a Bradley team that they beat 81-68 at home on January 19th. The Jays are extremely talented especially on the front line with Gregory Echenique (10.6 ppg) and Kenny Lawson Jr. (9.9 ppg). Combine those two with Doug McDermott (14.2 ppg) and Antoine Young (13.5 ppg) in the backcourt and you have a talented team. That's a lot more then you can say for the depleted Bradley Braves. BU has lost 11 straight contests and rely on Andrew Warren (18.9 ppg) and Dodie Dunson (10 ppg). Bradley is 139th in scoring putting up just 63.2 points per contest while allowing 69. They have lost five straight home games with all but one coming by at least six points or more. Warren wrenched his neck last time out against Wichita State, but he should be good enough to give it a go. We will continue to fade Bradley until they win a contest.

Marshall/Houston Over 137.5 -- Marshall hits the road to take on Houston on Tuesday night. The Thundering Herd are 14-7 and putting up 74.9 points per game. Marshall has scored 70 points or more in five of their last seven games. The team averages 72.7 points per game in conference while allowing almost 70. The Thundering Herd has six players who score at least eight points per game and are led by DeAndre Kane (15.3 ppg) and Damier Pitts (15.3 ppg). Houston is 11-9, 3-4 in the Conference USA. They score 70 points per game while allowing almost 68. Houston also has a balanced offense with six players scoring at least eight points per contest. Houston has gone over in five of their seven conference games as they allow their opponents to shoot almost 43% from the field. They have scored at least 70 points in eight of their last 10 contests. This one should be a shootout.